Kevin Rudd, the Australian Prime Minister, won office by promising to be less slavish to American interests than his predecessor, John Howard. So it was hardly surprising that his decision to salute President Bush at a Nato get-together last night did not go down too well at home.

But Mr Rudd might not have been prepared for the barrage of criticism unleashed by a gesture which he insisted today was nothing but an impromptu joke.

Footage of the newly-elected Labour prime minister raising his hand to salute Mr Bush during a social gathering on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Bucharest has been broadcast repeatedly on Australian television, drawing accusations of subservience to the world superpower.

Brendan Nelson, the Opposition leader, described Mr Rudd’s behaviour as “conduct unbecoming of an Australian prime minister."

“Mr Rudd appears to conduct himself in one manner when he thinks the television is upon him and another when it is not,” he said.

Bob Brown, leader of the country’s Green Party, also weighed in, saying that the gesture carried a “subservient connotation."

"It takes seasoned maturity to ensure Australia is never second-rated in the international arena and Mr Rudd is not there yet,” he said.

“We are not the 51st state of the USA and Mr Rudd’s salute carried a subservient connotation many Australians won’t like."

Mr Rudd, however, was not taking the matter too seriously today. When asked about the gesture, he laughed, saying that he was simply being friendly to a world leader whom he had met for the first time since assuming office in Washington a week ago.

“It was just a joke - I was just saying ’hi’ to the President of the United States. I was with him the other day. I went over and had a chat actually,” he told reporters in Bucharest.

After the playful gesture, a smiling Mr Rudd strode through a throng of other Nato leaders to shake the US President’s hand and had a friendly conversation.

Mr Rudd’s election in November last year ended the decade-long tenure of the Howard government, which became increasingly unpopular in its final years due, in part, to its staunch support of the United States over the invasion of Iraq and its refusal to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol.

A Chinese-speaking former diplomat, Mr Rudd has promised to follow an independent foreign policy and to withdraw 550 Australian combat troops from Iraq this year. His first act upon taking office was to ratify the Kyoto global warming pact.

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